Taiwan reports imported measles in unvaccinated child

On Friday, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) announced this year’s first imported measles case in a one-year-old girl who resides in northern Taiwan and had not received the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine.

Image/Jim Goodson, M.P.H.

According to health officials, she traveled to Guangdong, China with her family last October.

On February 22, 2017, she developed fever and cough. On February 26, she developed rash. On February 28, she took Flight HX252 to return to Taiwan. Before she boarded the plane, she took a fever reducer. After she arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at around 11 am, she was driven to a hospital for medical attention by her relative. She was reported to the health authority as a suspected case by the hospital and hospitalized in the isolation ward. On March 3, infection with measles was confirmed in the case after the hospital submitted her specimens for laboratory testing.

During the infectious period (February 22 and 28), the case was in China for the most part of the time. To prevent further transmission of the disease, the local health authority has implemented a number of prevention measures and identified 144 contacts, including her family members who reside in the same household, passengers (including cabin crew) on the same flight, healthcare personnel and patients that she came into contact with when she sought medical attention, to monitor and follow up until March 18, 2017.

Among the contacts, the case’s brother sought medical attention in China after becoming infected with measles in mid-February and has since recovered. Currently, none of the other contacts has developed suspected symptoms. Individuals who met the criteria for administering immunoglobulin and MMR vaccine are being arranged for the administration.

Last year, a cumulative total of 14 measles cases, including 6 indigenous cases and 8 imported cases, were confirmed.

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